The umpire versus BP CEO

If only BP and its CEO Tony Hayward had one iota of the class displayed by baseball umpire Jim Joyce. Joyce blew a call with two outs in the ninth inning that cost Detroit Tigers' pitcher Armando Galarrago a perfect game. Here's Joyce's reaction in a post-game interview after reviewing the replay:

Compare that to comments by BP's Hayward on Memorial Day. Check out the video clip, starting at about 3:00.

But it's too late. People often provide glimpses of their true nature in moments of deep stress. Joyce stood up and admitted his mistake. He understood that the moment wasn't so much about him as it was about a young pitcher whose amazing achievement had been ripped away. The man shed tears of regret -- all this over a game. No one had died, no one's livelihood had been put in jeopardy, no real damage had been done for generations to come. BP and Hayward could learn a thing or two about grace, remorse and honor from Joyce.

Had the pitcher immediately hired a phalanx of lawyers, I expect Joyce and Heywood might sound very similar.
The ideal rhetorical position BP should have taken and consistently applied was: we have a complex technical challenge to meet with profound ecological, economic and social consequences and assigning or even accepting blame at this point is pointless.
That said, Joyce was extremely classy. However, the most intriguing part of all this is the pitcher's body language and expression of amused resignation when he realized he had lost his perfect game. That was noble.